At just 39 years old, Jean-Pierre Schlunegger plunged from a bridge above Vevey in 1964; he had fought in vain against the inner compulsion to take his life at the same age as his father. Early on, influenced by Hölderlin's linguistic beauty, the poet from Vaud published four volumes of poetry within ten years, in which he repeatedly overcomes darkness and fears, conjuring love, music, and the beauty of nature in powerful, sensual, often unusual images. He surprises with a distinct, unmistakable tone and an almost startling sincerity. To read Schlunegger, one must "cleanse oneself, forget literature, immerse oneself anew in his work, and surrender to the voice that rises," wrote Richard Garzarolli as early as 1968. Half a century after his tragic death, the unjustly forgotten poet is being rediscovered.